Improvement in boiler-flue cleaners



R. R. CARPENTER.

Boiler-Flu@l Cleaners.`

Patented Dec.1,1874.

THE GRAPHIC C0. PHBT' LITE-39A 4l PARK PLAE, NA.Y.

. usual ways.

UNITED STATES,

PATENT OFFICE.

RALPH R. CARPENTER, OF TIPPECANOE CITY, OHIO.

IMPROVEMENT IN BOlLER-FLUE CLEANERS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent N o. 157,371, datedDecember 1, 1874; application led November 2, 1874.

To all whom it may concern:

Beit known that I, RALPH R. CARPENTER, of Tippecanoe City, in the countyof Miami and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Flue-Cleaners 5 and l do hereby declare that thefollowin gis afull, clear, and exact description thereof, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of referencemarkedthereon, which form part of this specification.

My invention relates to that class of steamboilers known as tubularboilers; and the nature of my invention consists in the constructionvandarrangement of a device for cleaning out the tubes or lues of the boilerby means of steam, as will be hereinafter more fully set forth.

In order to enable others skilled in the art to which my inventionappertains to make and use the same, I will now proceed to describe itsconstruction and operation, referring to the annexed drawing, in which-Figure l is a plan view. Fig. 2 is a rea-r end view. Fig. is a centralvertical section.

A represents a horizontal steam-boiler, provided with lues or tubes B Bpassing longitudinally through it in any of the known and The iiues ortubes B B are arranged in a series of horizontal rows, which may be ofany desired number, and any desired number of tubes or flues may be ineach row. These fines or tubes often require to be cleaned, and theobject of my invention is to accomplish this by blowing them out bysteam from the boiler. To this end I attach a pipe, C, in the top of theboiler A near the rear end, and connect this pipe with a pipe, D,located a suitable distance in rear and to one side of the boiler, saidpipe D standing in a vertical position, as shown, and iirmly secured tothewall by means of staples or hooks g g. From the pipe D extend aseries of horizontal pipes, E E, across the fire-box and in rear of theboiler. The pipes E correspond in number and position with the rows ofiiues in the boiler, and their outer ends are closed and supported bymeans of L-shaped arms a, a projecting from a bar, G, attached to theinner side of the fire-box, or they may be supported in the fire-boxitself, if found convenient. From each of the pipes E extend a series ofsmall tubes, b b, corresponding in number and position with the iiues inthe boiler, so that each flue will have one of these small tubes bpointing into it, and about three inches, more or less, from its rearend. In the end of the pipe C, within the boiler A, is a valve, d,closing the end of said pipe. This valve is provided with a stem, e,which extends Vertically up through the elbow of the pipe C, and is, atits upper end, provided with a head, el. Between this head and the pipeC is a spiral spring, e2, surroundingthe valve-stem, the tendency ofwhich spring is to draw the valve upward and close the end of the pipe.In a curved arm attached to the pipeC is pivoted a lever, H, one end ofwhich is to bear on the head e1. From the other end of the lever H acord should lead over suitable pulleys, so that by the engineer orireman pulling on said rope the lever' will be turned and force thevalve open. When the valve is thus opened, the steam willinstantaneously rush through the pipes C D and E E, and through thesmall tubes b b into and through the flues ofthe boiler, thereby blowingout and cleaning the lines from all soot and dirt therein, the steam anddirt passing out at the front ends of the iiues and into thesmoke-stack.

As soon as the pressure is removed from the lever, the combined actionof .the spring e2 and the steam within the boiler, at once closes thevalve d, and shuts oif lthe steam from the pipes. y

The pipes E E are supported in the center by means of arms h h extendinghorizontally from a vertical standard, I, the lower end of which isbuilt into the iioor of the fire-box, and its upper end is bent at rightangles forward nearly to the boiler, and there built into the masonry atthe rear end of the boiler above the tlues. This standard with its armswill prevent the pipes E from sagging down in the what I claim as new,and desire to secure by In testimony that I claim the foregoing as'Letters Patent, ismy own I afX-lny signature in presence of Thecombination, with the boiler A having bwo Witnesses.

flues B, of the pipes C, D, and E, Inubes b,

valve d with stem e and head e1, spring e2, and RALPH R CARPENTER' leverH, all constructed and arranged to op- Vitnesses: erate substantially asand for the purposes T. H. ALEXANDER,

herein set forth. J. TYLER POWELL.

